Article by Fitz with input by Debra Freeman
Photos and videos by Fitz or courtesy of the restaurants
As a Hampton Roads based food writer and radio show host for a demanding FM food talk show, it’s safe to say I eat out a lot. Last year for my 2017 best dishes list, my obsession with Southern cuisine and Soul Food was heavily reflected in the results. In contrast, at the halfway point of this year I find myself drawn more and more to non-traditional American food whose varied cultures have deep roots in Hampton Roads. The following best bites list for the first half of 2018 reflects just how diverse the food offerings are locally.
10) Kalua Pork Fries at Auntie’s Tiki Bar & Restaurant Virginia Beach
Frankly speaking, not only does Auntie’s take on poutine deserve to be on this list, but I could have easily included their lumpia as well. Auntie’s Tiki Bar and Restaurant off of Holland Road in Virginia Beach serves up Filipino and Hawaiian offerings often times with a fusion flare. Their riff on the Canadian staple poutine features Kalua pork, gravy and cheese sauce served over fries. The Kalua pork, roasted for 12 hours in apple cider vinegar, himalayan salt and wrapped in bacon, truly separates Auntie’s dish from other more classic poutines around the seven cities. It’s also topped which chichurron, ‘cause you can never have enough pork.
9) The Woody at Redwood Smoke Shack Portsmouth
Pitmaster Bob Roberts is hard at work every week making barbecue that Hampton Roads and greater Virginia can be proud of. One of his more inventive dishes, The Woody, consisting of pulled pork, sliced brisket, house-made barbecue sauce and slaw between a sliced Krispy Kream doughnut, has hovered close to making a few best of lists of mine. This time it finally recieves some much overdue recognition as much for it’s glutenous nature as it’s spot on marriage of sweet and savory components.
8) Chocolate Strawberry Marshmallow at The Bonbonnier Norfolk
For sometime now, The Bonbonnier has been satisfying sweet tooths in Norfolk’s historic Ghent. Their marshmallow game however is somewhat new and I was blown away a few months ago when I tried their Chocolate Strawberry incarnation. Taking roughly about 20 minutes to make but left to rest overnight to dry out and cool down, their assistant bakers Samantha Foran and Laura Trott often are the ones making these sweet wonders, and there is no doubt they’re mixing love into each behemoth square.
7) Yock-a-mein at Sing Wong Restaurant Portsmouth
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Step into this unassuming storefront in Portsmouth, and you may not realize that Sing Wong is the oldest known restaurant to serve the local delicacy known as yock-a-mein. Yock, as it is affectionately known, is a Chinese-American dish originally marketed to African-Americans in the local area, and is made up of yock-a-mein noodles, chicken (although beef or shrimp could be used instead), ketchup, a boiled egg, soy sauce, vinegar, and red pepper flakes. Once all the ingredients are tossed together, the seemingly incompatible components become a delightful mix of tart, sweet, and savory all at once to create a harmonic balance of goodness. Although there are several Chinese take-out places in Hampton Roads to order yock-a-mein, and there are even some restaurants that have tried to gentrify the dish, if you really want to taste history and culinary innovation, Sing Wong is the only place to go.
6) Fett at Codex Norfolk
This pasta dish is a very personal one for Codex’s owner and chef Ian Hock as it is the last dish he made for his late father. Comprised of house-made fettuccine, oyster mushrooms, parmesan, radish, egg, and chives, it is a staple on the restaurant’s menu. The texture and bite of Hock’s fettuccine rivals the best handmade pasta you might find at Terrapin or on the chef’s menu at Pasta e Pani, both located in Virginia Beach. Codex, like Alkaline before it, pops up at night in Pendulum in Norfolk’s historic Ghent. If you’re looking for a pasta dish at night that is full of bold complex flavors while remaining expertly cohesive, look no further.
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5) Pernil at La Yaroa Tropical Restaurant Virginia Beach
While La Yaroa is a modest looking Latin American restaurant tucked into a strip mall off of Bonney Road in Virginia Beach, there is nothing even remotely humble about their boldly spiced pernil. Their six hour cooked pork shoulder take on this Puerto Rican classic is stuffed and rubbed with a complex blend of herbaceous spices that tantalize the taste buds.
4) Pepperoni Bread at Laguna Bakery Virginia Beach
If you’ve had pepperoni bread then you know just how great this cheesy comfort food monster can be. Not all pepperoni breads are created equal though. I’ve come across some good ones in Hampton Roads, but the way the juicy meat drippings soak into the bread of Laguna’s version makes it my favorite. There is something about the bread that reminds me a bit of the rolls at Golden Corral, which is the only reason to ever step foot in that place.
3) Crab Cake at Streats Norfolk
Leave it to a Maryland native to make a fly the local flag supporter like me roll the flag up and sing the praises of a transplant’s crab cake making skills. Chef Jon Schedit, a Maryland native, unleashed this bad boy at Streats Bar and Restaurant in Ghent in May and it made me forget about all the crab cakes I’ve had recently. Large, creamy, briny, citrusy, Chef Schiedt informed me that two of his secrets are using jumbo lump and then enlisting back fin as the binder instead of stuffing.
2) Fried Soft Shell Sandwich at Stoley’s Virginia Beach
The first time I had a fried soft shell crab as a teen, I did not care for it. It was a textural issue, with the crab being a bit chewy and soggy for me. Here and there over the years I would continue to try them however, seeing if my tastes and textural preferences might have changed. Until a few weeks ago they hadn’t, but Chef David Hannah, it seems, had something to say about that. During a recent visit he made me his fried soft shell crab sandwhich even after I informed him why I wasn’t really a fan of the local dish. To my surprise, I couldn’t get enough of the sandwich both in terms of taste and texture. While Hannah wouldn’t explain how he got it so crispy, one has to wonder about his double fried Korean style chicken wings and how that process may have played into how he fried the soft shells.
Join Hampton Roads food personalities Debra Freeman and Joshua Fitzwater every Sunday night at 8pm on 102.1 The Tide FM as they explore the intersection of race, food and culture, highlight cheap and delicious eats locally and profile chefs and restaurants that shape the seven cities’ food scene. Stream the show online at www.southerngritmagazine.com/radio
1) Jerk Chicken at Island Jerk Hut Chesapeake
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You know the jerk chicken is good when you’re a fat guy sitting outside on a sweaty day with the sun bearing down on you and the pursuit of AC isn’t even a momentary concern. Island Jerk Hut’s bone-in chicken, made low and slow on the smoker out back of their humble establishment, is rich with marrow. You can taste the care put into the meat with each tender bite and their complex and spicy jerk seasoning, which bathes your palate throughout the meal, simply stands above all other jerks I’ve had locally. This gem of a Jamaican restaurant located in Chesapeake, not far from south Norfolk, secures my nod for the top bite thus far this year in Hampton Roads.
Honorable Mentions:
Three Little Pigs Pizza at Smoke BBQ Restaurant & Bar Newport News
Blackened Chicken Etouffee at Mango Mangeaux Hampton
Pork Adobo Tacos at Lumpia & Company Virginia Beach
Fried Fish Sandwich at Chef Skip’s 757 Virginia Beach
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